


my hands ache, my heart aches, i ache

by Shepherdesss



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Also he loves Bailey to bits, F/M, Have fun with my insanity, M/M, Multi, OT3, also Nathan is really hot, also get ready for nervous bisexual derek shepherd, but this isn't an insane idea, everyone thinks so, the answer is yes, the bi Brotp of your dreams: Callie and Nathan, you may be asking yourself: is this person insane?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 11:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11161149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shepherdesss/pseuds/Shepherdesss
Summary: three bodies met in the dark of the night, full of lust and wanting. next morning, they must face the consequences as they learn they all work in the same hospital.a season one re-write following the lives of meredith/nathan/derek as they embark in a new relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has already been posted on FF.Net but I also wanted to post here because I think ao3 is a better place to read stuff!!
> 
> This idea appeared in my head a few months ago and has refused to leave me alone. It's a GA re-write with a different ship: Meredith/Derek/Nathan. I am an avid lover of merder and merthan, and I decided to mix both wonderful ships to see what would happen.

Hot. That was the first thought to cross Meredith's mind as she began waking up. An odd feeling since her house had always been a little drafty, even during summer a sweater was necessary during the early mornings, but apparently two delectable bodies create a lot of warmth. Wait. Two bodies? Now, waking up with a one night stand is not a pleasant experience and sadly she has experienced her fair share of clingy guys, but this is a first.

Lifting her head, she examined the scene around her, her already messy house was even worse as clothes from three bodies were scattered around the living room, a knocked over box (Meredith suspected that happened when one with the accent pushed blue eyes against the wall) and several blankets thrown on the ground. It had been one heck of a night, but it's now morning and she has a job to do. Untangling herself from the boys, Meredith wraps a blanket around her naked body before picking up some pillows to drop at them.

Blue eyes was the first one up, stretching to work out the kinks that had developed on his body from sleeping on the floor and the marathon of sex he had last second guy was a little slower, mumbling curses under his breath, his accent thicker this morning than it was last night at the bar, but not as thick as it was when he was fucking her in the kitchen table. Her missing bra was suddenly handed to her by blue eyes. "This is uh.."

"This is humiliating on so many levels." there were bite marks all over her body and her bra was missing."You have to go..." she said taking a step backwards as they started moving.

"Why don't you just come back down here and we'll pick up where we left off." As far as she could remember, they left off the three of them collapsing on the floor after her fifth orgasm. A small pout reached his lips when Meredith unceremoniously dropped his pants in front of him.

"No. Seriously. You have to go. I'm late, which isn't what what you want to be on your first day of work, so you need to leave…" Derek had to admit she had a good point, he should probably be at the trailer getting ready for his new job, his brand new life in Seattle, away from Addison and Mark, away from his mum and gaggle of sisters, a chance to rediscover himself… hanging out with the minx from last night and their other muscular friend sounded a whole lot more simpler, they weren't going to annoy him into talking like his sisters had, wouldn't offer fake words like his mum did, they had no idea who he was and what he was going through, and he liked that.

Noticing how she trailed off, blue eyes approached, offering her his hand. "Derek, and that's Nathan, in case you don't recall." The last part was murmured on her ear, making her shiver.

"Thanks. And um.. Meredith." She mumbled wrapping the blanket tighter around her body. Looking away from his entrancing eyes, Meredith begins speaking again, this time her tone a little more commanding." You have to leave, and take him with you." She repeated.

"Nice house." The one with the accent, Nathan, said standing up as he began putting on his pants, his gorgeous bare chest still uncovered. "Little dusty though." Great, both of them can smirk. That's what she needed, two cocky guys in her living room the day before she begins her internship. Well, technically, she had needed them last night, several times, but this is the morning and she needs to get ready.

"Odd, but nice." Derek said with a nod, looking oddly like an excited golden retriever in that moment.

"It's not mine. Well, no. Well...kind of. " This reminds her, she will have to call the home and tell them she won't be able to come in during the next few days, they won't be happy since Meredith is the only one who can get her to eat something these days, but it will be physically impossible for her to visit, so unless she can invent a machine to clone herself during the next three hours, her mum will just have to go without a visit from her. The bad thing is, her mum is likely the only person to understand that, after all, the great Ellis Grey always put her career as a surgeon over her duty as a mother.

"How do you kind of live here? You aren't a squatter are you?" Nathan asked beginning to button up his shirt.

"I moved two weeks ago from Boston. It was my mother's house. I'm selling it." Though her med school was paid for by her mum and scholarships, there is no way she will be able to afford continue living here with an intern's salary considering her mum's savings are quickly dwindling down to pay for all around care.

"Oh, I am sorry." Derek said as he buttoned up his pants. Seeing her confused expression he adds. " You said was, i am sorry for your loss." Nathan nods along with Derek, looking as confused by the other guy's small talk as Meredith is.

"Oh, my mother's not dead. She's - you know what? She is..You know what? We don't have to do the thing.. The thing - exchange details, pretend we care. Look, i'm gonna go upstairs and take a shower okay? And when I get back down here, the two of you won't be here, so, um… goodbye Derek. Bye Nathan." Derek grins, making her re-think for one second the whole kicking them out thing, whilst Nathan just looks vaguely impressed by how many words she said in one go. Before they get the chance to say anything else, Meredith scurries out of the room, willing herself to forget last night so she can begin today - the first day of the rest of her life, also known, as her first day as a surgeon.

"So…" Nathan begins as he finishes getting dressed. "We came here with my car yesterday. Do you want a ride?" Even though he is already ready to move on from this incident, he is not going to leave the guy stranded here. "I have to go to the hospital, Seattle Grace, i can drop you off on the way."

"That's perfect actually. I am going to begin there today." His clothes are wrinkled, but he assumes there will be scrubs there, he will just change into them before he meets Richard to begin his day. "Are you a resident there?" Nathan doesn't look old enough to be an attending, but also too old for a resident.

"Third year. Cardio." They close the door behind them as they leave. "Starting today… Oh! Bailey did say we are getting a new Head of Neuro." A moment passed before Nathan adds. "I look forward to working under you, again." It has been a while since he has slept with someone, ever since Megan left for another tour, effectively breaking their engagement, Nathan had been concentrating on the job. Derek is hot, he may be technically his boss, but he is the head of a field he is not particularly interested in; perfect for meaningless meetings in the on call room

"Oh… Um. That sounds.." For a guy who seemed so confident last night and earlier this morning, Derek seems a bit nervous now. Oh…

"Are you into guys?"

"No. Yes. I mean… I had a lot of fun last night with you, but it was the first time I had ever done something like that." And honestly, even though he is really confused about all of this, he wouldn't mind a repeat performance. "Wouldn't I know if I was into guys? I am in my late thirties." Nathan looks at Derek from the corner of his eye, trying to judge if realizing he might not be straight will make this guy go crazy, he doesn't seem like the type, but he has only known him for a few hours and most of them weren't spent speaking.

"It's not uncommon for bisexual people to not know their sexuality until later in life. They are so used to being told they should only like one gender, they don't understand that what they feel is attraction. I did my undergrad in a very liberal college, i made out with a guy during one of the first parties and realized I enjoyed it. There is another resident, she figured out she was bisexual a few months ago because she began liking one of the cardio residents. It happens more than you would think. If you ever wanna talk about it, we meet some times with other people in the hospital who are also bi." Perhaps meaningless meetings won't work, especially if they begin meeting outside of the hospital, but it might be nice to have a friend. He is not ready for another relationship, but with Megan gone, so is Owen. It will be nice to have someone to talk to.

"Sort of like AA meetings?"

"Well… No, because those people have a problem they need to deal with, our meetings are about talking about… well, our sexualities but day to day shit as well. We don't have a subject we need to talk about, it's mostly what is happening in our lives at the moment, but sometimes if something happens that threatens us we will spend time on that subject."

The words slip out of his mouth before he can stop them. "Like what?"

"Well…" So far so good, he hasn't freaked out yet but that doesn't mean he won't later. "We had this attending, amazing surgeon, incredible in her field and great for the hospital's reputation. She discovered two residents, both female, were dating and began screaming at them. It was… it was bad. It was a bad day." Taking a deep breath, Nathan begins driving a little more slowly, not trusting his senses when he is talking about an emotional matter. "Yeah. Chief Webber fired her the next day, but the damage was done. We pretty much met everyday of that week. A support system. That's what we are. When things get tough, we meet and talk about stuff."

"That sounds nice. Really nice actually." That actually sounds perfect. He grew up in a house that was always filled to the brim; he enjoys the quiet of the OR and of his new home, but it will be nice to create some friends, to know he can rely on someone when something happens.

Derek is quiet during the next five minutes, only speaking when they pull up at the hospital. "Thanks, and yeah.I think I might take you up on your offer. See you around Nathan?" Derek shoots Nathan a dazzling smile, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes, thoughts about this different life he is building clouding his thoughts.

"Yeah. See you Derek." Nathan stays in the car for a few more minutes, making sure he doesn't have sex hair and re-reading one last time about a surgery he will be assisting Burke today. Just as he gets ready to leave his car, he spots a familiar blonde getting out of a blue car. Meredith.

Well… This is bound to be interesting.


	2. second chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! So, after the positive response I got from the first chapter, I decided to continue this story. I am not saying this in a ‘if i don’t get reviews i don’t update’ kind of way, but in a: this ship doesn’t have a fandom so I need to make sure people will enjoy this before I spend hours writing this fic.  
> So, thank you guys very much! I am really happy people are as excited as I am about this story, I hope to do you justice.

After dispatching the two guys from her house, Meredith went up to her room for a much needed shower, pushing back the memories of her actions last night so she can concentrate on the day ahead, her first day as a surgical intern. No one had believed in her, not her mum, not her undergrad teachers who saw her as a spoiled surgical legacy with a tendency for partying, no one. Meredith has always been her own support system and she is fine with that, she doesn’t need anyone else telling her what to do. It’s better this way even, with no one believing in her, there is no one she can let down.  
Not that she is planning on failing, she is going to kick surgical ass in her internship, she is quite sure of that. So, she brushes her hair, changes into a white shirt and khaki pants (an attempt to look professional) and rushes to the hospital, arriving a few minutes late, joining the group stealthily to not call attention to herself.  
Richard Webber is leading the group, she has fuzzy memories of the man but they are mostly positive, he would sometimes play with her when her dad was lecturing and her mum was in surgery, he would make funny faces and help her do surgery in her anatomy jane doll, even learning the fake names she created for the human organs.  
“Each of you comes here today a hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure and two of your will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you.” this is it, her whole life has been leading up to this. The smell of the OR is at the same time familiar and exhilarating; green eyes take in the room with rapt excitement, it’s shiny and perfect, and it will soon be hers. The excitement turns into fear, which turns into dread. Yes, there is no one she can let down but herself, but can she really handle that? Becoming the failure her mother told her she would be? Countless hours of studying going down the drain? Will she crack under the pressure like Richard predicted? Kick surgical ass? What the hell had she been thinking this morning?  
I’m screwed. 

Meredith changes into her scrubs and puts on the lab coat she found on her locker, carefully putting a stethoscope around her neck; the dread she was feeling earlier is soothed by the methodic movements, the knowledge she was good enough to pass into medical school and enter one of the top residency programs in the country. It’s still there, eating her away, but the excitement of finally starting her medical career makes it just a tiny little more tolerable.  
Looking around the room, Meredith notices something she should have expected but is still uncomfortable with the knowledge:  
There are only five other women in the room.  
“Only six woman out of twenty.” she says to the woman next to her.  
“Yeah, I hear one of them is a model. Seriously, that’s gonna help with the respect thing?”  
“You’re Cristina, right?” Meredith vaguely remembers hearing her introduce herself to an attending the night before.  
“Which resident are you assigned to?” it would be nice to have another woman with her, someone to roll her eyes with when someone says something particularly stupid. “I got Bailey.”  
“The nazi? Me too.”  
“You got the nazi? So did I.” At first Meredith is weirded out by the fact he was listening to their conversation, but he looks so nice she doesn’t mind that much, smiling amusedly at him. “At least we will be tortured together, right? I’m George O’Malley. Uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black with a slit up the side, strappy sandals, and…” everything about him screams puppy to her, his awkward movements as he approaches them, the way he walks. It’s endearing, and she feels bad she doesn’t remember him, only two man made an impression on her last night and he wasn’t one of them. “Now you think I’m gay.” isn’t he? “No, i’m not gay. It’s just that you were very unforgettable.” When their names are called out, Meredith breathes a sigh of relief, she had no idea how to extricate herself from the awkward conversation with George. He is nice, but definetly not her type.  
Meredith follows Cristina, two other bodies joining their group as they look at the woman who everyone calls the nazi, disbelief plastered on her face. Such a tiny woman can’t be the nazi. The nazi is supposed to be a white man, 6”3’ barking orders at everyone. Maybe Izzie is right, maybe it’s professional jealousy.  
That belief is quickly destroyed by the glare Bailey gives Izzie. “I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule 1: Don't bother sucking up. I already hate you. That’s not going to change. Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers. Nurses will page you.” The interns grab the items and stuff them in their pockets before following Bailey.” You answer every page at a run. A run, that's rule 2. Your first shift starts now and last 48 hours.” The hospital is different from what she remembers, but the structure and smell are the same.” You’re interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. Run labs, write orders, work every second and night until you drop and don't complain. On call rooms, attendings hog them; sleep when you can, where you can. Which brings me to rule 3: If I’m sleeping don't wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule 4: The dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only would you have killed someone, you would have waked me for no good reason. Are we clear?” Meredith raises her hand, noticing that though Bailey said five rules when she began her speech, she only said four. “Yes?”  
“You said five rules. That was only four.” she isn’t trying to be a smartass, but having been a student just a few short months ago, she has gotten quite used to getting every drop of information her teachers could give her. Bailey promised five rules, where is number five?  
The unmistakable sound of a pager distracts Bailey, who begins moving as she says: “rule number five: when I move, you move.” and they begin the running that Bailey had warned them about in rule number 1.  
Everything is chaotic as they try treating Katie Bryce, Bailey is barking orders and they are all lost. It’s one thing to learn about something in theory, a completely different other is to actually try inserting an IV into a moving human body.  
A door opens, a handsome black man in dark blue scrubs enters followed by a younger man with brown hair in light blue scrubs.  
“A wet fish on dry land?” the older man asks grabbing the chart.  
“Absolutely, Dr Burke.” Bailey answers. “Dr Riggs.” she says acknowledging the other man. Oh god, Meredith thinks as she recognizes him as one of the guys she slept with last night, and by the smirk he is sending her, he clearly remembers her as well. This isn’t supposed to happen! Her internship is supposed to be a brand new leaf, no more sleeping around like she did in college, she is not supposed to have slept with an older resident!  
“Dr Bailey, let’s shotgun her.”  
Bailey opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted by the slightly accented voice of Nathan. “You guys will have to do every test in the book CT, CBC, chem-7, tox screen. You can name it, you test it.” Realizing what he has done, he shoots Bailey an apologetic smile. “Sorry Dr Bailey, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Still not used to..” he trails off at the woman’s glare, but unlike most people who look scared when faced with that expression, he looks amused.  
He watches his former intern give out orders, only paying attention to what is being said when the name Meredith pops up. She had looked beautiful last night in her alluring black dress, but he likes what he is seeing now better, the simple makeup and lab coat. It suits her. 

Katie Bryce is her responsibility. Meredith isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It might mean Bailey is impressed with her so far, or that she wants to punish her. From what she has seen of Bailey so far, it’s more likely she is trying to punish her. And the more time she spends with Katie, the more she thinks she was originally right: this is a punishment. The girl is annoying, self centered and probably has the worst hobby humankind has ever thought of.  
But she is her patient and she is going to take care of her.  
But first, she is going to have to figure out where the hell is the CT.  
After five minutes of going down halls looking lost, a nurse finally takes pity on her and tells her where she is supposed to go.  
After seven long hours, Meredith heads to the cafeteria, lost in her thoughts of killing Katie, she doesn’t notice the way the table becomes quiet when she sits down.  
“Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass. If I hadn’t taken the hippocratic oath, I’d kevorkian her with my bare hands.” The table stares at her, but before she can figure out what is going on Dr Burke walks up to them, Nathan trailing after him, inviting George to perform his first solo surgery, following a long standing tradition in the hospital where an attending picks the intern with most promise. She had hoped it would have been her (her mother had been chosen). George doesn’t look like the guy to beat by his messy appearance, but perhaps she had missed something.  
Or maybe she is just that bad. She had, after all, gotten lost.  
At least this means she won’t have to spend time with Nathan -- Dr Riggs -- because he will probably be there in the O.R.  
After lunch she stops in to check on Katie, she had been in the minute barely a minute when the patient’s parents come in asking a trillion questions that she doesn’t know how to answer, which means she will have to bite the bullet and find Dr Burke (and Nathan). The universe really does hate her.  
“What?” Bailey barks when Meredith finds her.  
“Katie’s parents have questions. Do you talk to them or do I ask Burke?” she asked, hoping Bailey is already experienced enough to take on parents alone.  
“No, Burke’s off the case. Katie belongs to the new attending now, Dr Shepherd. He’s over there.” After pointing towards a dark haired man, Bailey leaves, leaving Meredith to talk to the new attending… the handsome, blue eyed and very familiar attending, who is laughing with his co-workers, looking unfairly handsome in his dark blue scrubs.  
Deciding to instead ask a nurse to page him,Meredith attempts to scurry off, especially after she sees a look of recognition in his face. If there is a being bigger than the universe, he is probably laughing his head off at her situation. She managed to sleep with two of her superiors before her first day of work. 

Derek’s first day of work has been actually pretty great. After Nathan dropped him off, he changed into his scrubs and lab coat, had a productive meeting with Richard before he started getting himself acquainted with his staff. The feeling of working in a hospital is something he missed, private practice was good for his pocket, but he missed the fast paced environment, gosh, he even missed the E.R. His surgical staff is really good, and he already has several ideas he wants to implement in his department, this is going to be perfect for him. It will leave him constantly busy, too busy to think about what happened in New York.  
Thoughts of the two people he slept with last night are slowly pushed to the back of his mind as he invests himself in his job, but they are suddenly front and center when he sees a familiar dirty blonde, who looks very shocked to see him. And she is wearing scrubs!  
Of all the people he could have slept with he managed to find two people who work in the same hospital as him. Huh, the universe loves him. Last night had been fun and great to distract his mind, he wouldn’t be opposed to repeat the experience. After making excuses, he follows Meredith.  
“Meredith, can I talk to you for a second?” even if he does pose that as a question, he doesn’t want for her reply before he drags her into a staircase.  
“Actually, I was--” her replies dies in her lips as she enters the staircase.  
Derek checks to see if someone noticed the scene before following her, a smile on his lips. He can’t help it, he is too excited to see her. Even if she looks freaked out as she also checks to see if there is someone else around.  
“Dr. Shepherd.”  
“Dr. Shepherd? This morning it was Derek.” technically it was nothing since she didn’t remember his name. “Now, it’s Dr Shepherd.” he murmurs stepping closer to her, close enough for him to notice there is freckles on her nose.  
“Dr. Shepherd, we should pretend it never happened.” Later she will have a similar conversation with Nathan, that is, if he attempts to do something similar. But she will have to make it clear to him she is here to work, not sleep around.  
“What never happened -- you sleeping with me and Nathan last night, or you throwing us out this morning? Because both are fond memories I’d like to hold unto.” the memory of her cries as he pounded into her, Nathan’s big hands massaging her breasts is one he will have a hard time forgetting, they both looked so beautiful at that momens, lost to the world, their faces etched with ecstasy.  
“No, there will be no memories. I’m not the girl in the bar anymore, and you’re not one of the guys. This can’t exist. You get that, right?” He can’t tear his eyes away from her lips as she rambles.  
“You took advantage of me, and now you want to forget about it. I was drunk, vulnerable and good looking, and you took advantage.” he says over her objections.  
“Okay, I was the one who was drunk, and you are not that good looking.”  
“Maybe not today. Last night. Last night, I was very good looking. I had my red shirt on and you took advantage.”  
“I did not take advantage, if anyone took advantage, it was Nathan.” Meredith basically gave him a hand job in the bar, they had moved to one of the booths as they started talking and she hadn’t been able to help herself.  
“Want to take advantage again -- say, Friday night?” He could take her to his land and make her scream all night along, he noticed last night she bit her lips a lot to stop her reactions, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to hear her screaming his name.  
Though tempted momentarily, Meredith says: “No.You’re an attending and I’m your intern. Stop looking at me like that.”  
“Like what?” he asks, her statement bringing him out of his fantasy.  
“Like you’ve seen me naked.” he doesn’t reply, simply smiles, because… yeah, he had seen her naked alright. “Dr. Shepherd, this inappropriate. Has that ever occurred to you?” with the moral high ground, Meredith leaves, pleased she had won this weird conversation they were having, leaving behind a confused Derek. 

With a grunt, Nathan sat down next to Callie, offering her his usual small smile, though a little more bright due to the present company, after all, she was his best friend.  
"The interns are stupider this year, I can't have any of them on my cases, they are going to kill my patients." Callie said between bites. "This chick comes in thinking she is the next Harper Avery and can't even do a central line. We weren't this stupid were we?"  
"Well..." he began ignoring his friend's glare. "You did once lose a patient and you threw up during the intern solo surgery."  
"That's not fair! Burke wants that! He wants us to freak out!"  
"He does." Which reminds him he will have to leave soon to scrub in for the surgery. "I am not letting him though."  
Callie's eyes widen at his statement, she knows Nathan disagrees with Burke's methods but no one dares helping the lost intern before he screws up. At least not in the three years she has been here.  
"Yep. Going to make sure he stays calm and tips. Lots of tips. I am not letting this thing go on and --" his sentence dies at his lips when Bailey sits in their table, disbelief radiating from her.  
"O'Malley? Seriously? What the hell is going underneath your stupid floppy hair?" She demands.  
"I remember you being a lot more pleasant last year."  
"Oh, please now that you aren't my resident anymore I am not going to play nice anymore. O'Malley barely made it through the program, I know Burke has this insane thing going on, but there has to be someone else for him to torture."  
"He saw something in him. Don't ask me what, I am not sure yet." Giving Bailey a charming smile, he rests his hand over hers. "Don't worry, I will look out for your intern. It's nice to see my intern is so worried about her interns. Good cycle, eh?"  
Shooting Nathan a disgusted glare, Bailey pulls her hand away before looking at Callie. "Do you fall for this bullshit?" She asks in a dry tone, making Callie erupt into laughter.  
"No. Not really." She says petting Nathan's shoulder. "You better leave for the surgery... were you serious about watching out for the guy?"  
"Yeah of course. Burke is amazing but insane.”  
"That's what works for him." Callie states turning towards Bailey. "He loves the underdogs. You know what that is like."  
Finally, a small smile appears in Bailey's face. "Yeah. I do." The smile is gone as quickly as it appeared. "Now go make sure my intern doesn't shit in pants."  
"Yes ma'am" he said with a mock salute before leaving the cafeteria, his eyes straying to Meredith’s form as he walked away. She really is a gorgeous thing, hopefully she will have an interest in cardio, he wouldn't mind spending more time with her.  
Nathan follows Preston into the O.R room, shaking his head at the intern. Really, what was Preston thinking? The boy is about to sweat through his scrubs, which will be ridiculous and unsanitary.  
“OK, O'Malley, let's see what you can do.”  
Nathan chooses to settle himself in front of George, giving him an encouraging nod. “Me and Burke are here, whatever happens, we got you covered okay?” he is careful to speak his words only loud enough for the people around him to hear. For every order Burke gives, Nathan adds a compliment, earning the chuckles of a few of the OR nurses who have figured out what he is doing. He assumes his attending has figured out as well, but approves, if he didn’t, he would have been kicked out of the O.R a few minutes ago.  
The surgery is mostly smooth, George’s movements are stiff and slow, as if he is second guessing himself as he goes, but they are all correct. The gallery breaks into cheers when the appendix is removed, everyone there seems to be paying close attention to the procedure, but he has a feeling they aren’t the usual gallery -- they aren’t here to learn, they are here to watch George blunder. When the cecum is accidentally ripped, he can see what will happen by looking at Burke’s face, the exact thing he wants to stop from happening.  
Burke begins speaking, but Nathan is quicker. “O’Malley, take a deep breath. Yes, just like that, now one more time. Good.” He grabs the suction and passes to the intern, who lets it hang limp in his hands for a few seconds before he remembers what do do. Nathan’s hands move towards the cavity, before he can start helping, he looks up at Burke who nods approvingly. “Okay. Good job, make sure to vacuum so we can have a clear field. Our next step is grabbing the strings, I am going to grab one, show you what to do when we switch okay?”  
“Do we clamp?” George asks as they switch jobs.  
“Do we?” He is trying to be nice, but he can’t just give the intern all of the answers, it doesn’t work that way.  
“Yeah. We need to clamp.” extending his hand confidently towards one of the OR nurses, he is handed the instrument and quickly gets back to work, his movements still have no finette, but he is no longer second guessing himself, he sees a problem and fixes it.  
“Than do it.”

Taking out his gloves, Nathan keeps shooting looks at Burke as they scrub out, waiting for his superior to begin berating him for his actions, after all, everyone knows what’s Burke’s purpose with these surgeries. Instead, they spend 2 minutes in uncomfortable silence, both of them going through their routines.  
Burke ends first, he methodically dries his hands before heading towards the door, before he opens, he turns towards Nathan. “Good job Riggs. You will become a fine teacher one day, you reacted quickly and allowed him to regain control of the surgery by himself... Just next time, give me a warning...Maybe, I can be more of a bad cop next year.” he says before leaving.  
Shaking his head in disbelief, Nathan washes his hands distractedly as he runs what happened over and over in his head, because he had thought about what would happen several times, in none of the situations Burke made a joke. Callie is going to love this. 

Meredith was the only one in the gallery who believed in George, everyone else was making bets about how quickly he would fail, thinking of nicknames they could give him after this, so she is immensely pleased when George is able to pull it off (even if Cristina grumbles it was only because the resident helped him). Nathan helped him. She grew up around surgeons, she knows they aren’t the helping kind, on the other hand, they will exploit your weaknesses. But he reacted in a completely different matter and because of him George won’t be the brunt of jokes for the next few months. Looking around, she checks to see if everyone is distracted before slipping off, heading towards the scrub rooms -- from what she can see, this part of the architecture of the building remains the same. Meredith tells herself she is going there to check on George, the nice boy who is going to be working with her for the next few years who will probably want to talk about what happened, but let’s be honest, she is hoping she will run into Nathan. He basically acted like the anti-Ellis during the surgery, giving her hope she can be an amazing surgeon and still be a decent person, a balance her mother was never able to reach.


End file.
